News

CLOUGH WANTS WINS

Huddersfield Giants forward Paul Clough spoke to giantsrl.com
after signing a new two-year contract with the club.

Paul Clough may be delighted to sign a new contract with the Huddersfield Giants but the forward is solely focussed on helping the Giants move up the Betfred Super League table.

The Giants sit 11th after just one win in the opening four fixtures and after penning a deal which will keep him at the club until 2020, Clough is desperate for the Claret and Gold to hit some form. He said:

“It’s nice to get it sorted, obviously. But as a team we need to start getting better and hopefully we will.

“It’s a bit bittersweet in that sense. From a personal point of view, it’s nice because it’s where I want to be but as a team we aren’t where we want to be. The team is more important in my opinion and that’s the way sport is.”

Clough featured in every match in the 2017 campaign and has remained an ever-present in 2018 but the 30-year-old has expressed his disappointment of the club’s opening league form. The prop is aiming to correct a few wrongs – starting against Widnes Vikings this evening. He continued:

“We can’t just think things are going to get better and that there’ll be a good patch and get a few wins,” said Clough. “These are two big games [against Widnes Vikings and Hull KR] for us and the table really starts to take shape after Easter and you need to get as much points as possible before then to take pressure of us.

“It’s easier said than done. We can’t just turn up. There’s things we need to sort out as a team and like I said winning is wining. The table will look after itself and we are where we are because we’re not winning games. We’ve got to keep working hard.

“It’s an 80 minute game and we need an 80 minute performance. That comes with the way we train, recover and move on to next week. The good thing about rugby is that we have a short memory – we can’t be feeling sorry for ourselves too much because we’re going on to Widnes now and that’s the next step.”

The Giants face Widnes Vikings on Friday at 8pm and Clough spoke highly of his opposition although revealing that the Giants are eyeing a win.

“They’re playing on an artificial pitch which is a lot faster. They’ve got good outside backs, a lot of speed and skill and the forwards are mobile who work for each other. That’s the way they play the game and like all sports teams play better at home. They’re a good side and last year they went through a bad spell but they’ll bring energy and see us as a target for themselves. We don’t want to end up in the bottom four and we’ve got to move on and play right and hopefully get the result we want.”